Alex Wong
Writing 39C
Yaniga
Abstract
Sexism is a prevalent problem caused by both societies’ sexist norm of each gender and through it, sexism
through different medium. It brings negative effects to both individual and society. To get to the root of
solving sexism, we must sway our upcoming generations from the pre-existing society norm and beliefs
by implementing an effective education in school curriculums regarding the danger of sexism. Through
this, we can slowly shift the whole society on their perspective of sexism and get rid of sexism and its
problems.
Solving Sexism through Education
Sexism is an active problem that needs to be addressed in modern society, as it takes a toll on
society by its major presence in our lives, especially in video games in the modern times. Sexism has
been described as “the first, the most ancient, and the most pervasive form of human prejudice” (Perry
and Albee 123). Over the course of history, society has slowly set a norm for each gender, causing the
constant appearance of sexism in daily lives. To solve this issue, we must instill a correct mindset to our
next generation of the danger of sexism by implementing an effective educational lesson on the topic.
Sexual Representation is a huge part of sexism in video games
in modern society. Video Games typically have male as characters,
and female are absence from the games. (Dietz) When examining
just the covers of video games, Burgress et al. found that men were
twice more likely to be featured than women. When women are
included, they are portrayed as needing aids from man. (Dietz)
Looking at video games as a whole, only 10% of the main characters
were clearly women and of those characters, most are hyper
sexualized. (Dill et al.) This recurring problem becomes an endless A cover of Spawn: Armageddon includes
“two
females
that
were
cycle of forming society’s norm for male as masculine and female as disproportionately smaller than the
possession or sexual object, and through that, creates more
misrepresented video games. Society has set this mindset upon
previous generations through different mediums such as radio and
primary male character… Each character
was wearing a leather g-string and was
performing no identifiable action other
than to titillate the audience.” (Burgress
et al. 426)
Source: “Spawn: Armageddon” Wikipedia
television, and this norm is now being implanted through video games. With the rising popularity of
video games, upcoming generation will be sure to build up ideas of sexism through sexual
representation and stereotypes.
Sexism can also be often seen in video games through the form of sexual harassment. Video games
have often been associated as a “male space”, but with the growing number of women entering the
gaming industry and participating in online gaming, sexual harassment was bound to show up. In Sexism
in Online Video Games, Fox and Tang researched sexist activities in online video games. Using
Conformity to Masculine Norm Inventory, Social Dominance Orientation, and Video Game Sexism Scale,
Fox and Tang dived into the virtual world of video games to find traces of sexism. What they found was
that the significant predictors for video game sexism were all masculinity norm of power over women,
masculinity norm of hetero-sexual self-presentation, and social dominance orientation, all of which
traces back to seeing themselves as the greater sex and having power over the other. (Fox et al. 317)
This shows that sexism occurs in video games, mostly men over women. With the growing number of
female gamers, there is a chance of change of player behavior. But without an effort to make change,
women will be constantly harassed in the hostile video game environment as men will still attempt to
show masculinity and dominance over female gamers.
Not only are female gamers being harassed, but female game developers are major victims of sexual
harassment as well. Many people blame the sexual misrepresentation in video games on the lack of
female game developers. (Toledano; Sounderlund, CBCNews) In fact, only 22% of the video gaming
industry is females. (IGDA) However, female game developers are constantly sexually harassed and
threatened in the gaming industry, such as emails about vowing to rape them, or even fantasies of
murdering and slicing their body. (Quinn; Wu) Who can blame the lack of female developers if they have
to work in such a hostile environment? However, this is only the very problem in front of their eyes, but
the problem in the bigger picture is sexism’s sole existence in society as a norm. Video games are a
medium of sexist
beliefs
in
the
modern world and
the
problem
is
growing, with no
Female Game Developer Brianna Wu publicly attacked on Twitter from Twitter account “Death to
Brianna”. She also received threat to rape and murder her on social media platform 8chan.
Source: Reilly, 'If you have any kids they're dead too': Female game developer forced to flee
her home after horrific 8chan rape and murder threats in latest sexism scandal plaguing
industry

means of stopping
unless changes are
made.
Sexism brings about negative
effect to both individual and
societies.
In Dill, Brown, and
Collins research Sex-Stereotyped
Video
Game
Character
on
Tolerance of Sexual Harassment,
they were able to show that “male
Sexual harassment Judgement as a result of media exposure.
who saw the sex-typed images
Source: Dill, Brown, Collins Effects of Exposure to Sex-Stereotyped Video Game
Characters on Tolerance of Sexual Harassment.
were most tolerant of sexual
harassment” (Dill, Brown, and
Collins 1406). The bar graph shows this, with a lower score being more tolerant. The same research also
showed that male who saw stereotypical images had a more rape-supportive attitude. Undoubtedly,
with the presence of these kinds of video games, women in our society will be looked upon differently,
and can become victims of rape as well as possessions or sexual object. This poses danger for individuals,
especially women, as they are now easily target of sexual harassment and even rape, experiences that
can bring down their mentality and even change their life for worse. In a similar research, Perpetuating
Online Sexism Offline, Fox, Cruz, and Lee found that using media to spread sexist message can cause a
change in attitude towards another gender, such as a less likelihood to hire a female employee. (Fox et
al. 439) This creates subtle sexism in the workforce and therefore affecting society as a whole. Sexism’s
presence poses a threat for society now and in the future and is an urgent problem that should be
resolved.
Education is the first step in the fight to rid sexism. It is safe to agree on that no one is ever born
sexist. Most of our behavior and attitude towards everyday life is taught and learnt by our surroundings.
Everything we do and think has a cause behind it, and this includes our thought and prejudice of another
gender. We are raised to believe things about other genders because of stereotypes (17ijones). Luckily,
research successfully shows that, through effective education, we are able to change behaviors and
attitudes of everyday sexism. (Cundiffs et al.; Schmidt et al.; Springer et al.) However, the implemented
education must be well implemented and planned in order to have an effect. Moreover, since every
classroom is different, the approach must be varied. (Lynch) Each educational method will not follow the
same set of teaching progress. However, we can suggest an education implementation that teachers can
base off of.
Since education does have a
huge impact on our mindset, a
potential solution to sexism
would be teaching children of
the danger of sexism in school
curriculums. One possible base
education system would be the
Workshop Activity for Gender
Equity
Simulation
(WAGES).
WAGES was first created by four
WAGES game sample
staff from PennState, Shields,
Source: Cundiff et al. Using Experiential Learning to Increase the Recognition of
Everyday Sexism as Harmful: The WAGES Intervention
Zawadski,
Dicicco,
and
McCormick to attempt educating students of sexism. WAGES is basically a designed experimental
learning that is meant to educate individuals about the effect of subtle sexism. WAGES simulates a game
where two teams, green and white, attempts to advance through their academic life with a goal as a
distinguished professor. Player takes turn drawing and reading the activities on their card, attempting to
solve the same issue but with a different method and outcome depending on their team. An example of
this is shown on the image. In the end, players are revealed that green team represents women’s work
life experience, while white represents male’s. However, throughout the game, player might have been
able to figure out this trend. In the end, the group discusses their reaction and how they can address
this bias in their own life. WAGES uses activity learning to allow first-hand experience as victims of
sexism.
WAGES has four designed goals. The first goal is for participants to “recognize the negative impact of
the accumulation of apparently minor biases and unfair practice on women’s ability to advance in their
field.” This is extremely relevant to a well-known and proven problem for women in society, the “glass
ceiling.” (Cotter et al.) Glass ceiling represents the existence of an invisible barrier to advancement of
professions, affecting usually women and minorities. Its effect is certainly negative and causes victims to
feel inferior and discriminated. By recognizing these impacts, participants will be more likely to take
action to change. The second goal of WAGES is for participants to “develop awareness that different
gender-relevant factors may be more significant at one stage in work life than in others.” By being aware
of the factors, participants will more aware of their action and the effect it can have. The third goal is for
participants to “learn that stereotype and other ‘cognitive shortcuts’ impair our ability to notice bias.”
Stereotype and cognitive shortcuts allows us to learn thing from the World by ourselves. By seeing
stereotype and other representations often in media or other sources, it can make us indifferent to bias
or even acceptance of the sexism around us. By making participants aware of this fact, WAGES can
decrease the number of people that are indifferent to the sexism occurring around them. Lastly, WAGES
attempts to help participants “understand that patterns, not single incidents, are the most visible
indicators of gender inequality in the workplace” (About WAGES). Sexism and bias does not just occur
once, but over and over. The reason behind is that both parties have, whether willingly or unwillingly,
accepted this type of relationship. In another word, both parties have conformed to the norm set by
society, as they might receive social rewards for conforming to the norm (Swami et al. 373). However,
just because it occurs every day does not mean it is acceptable, and WAGES teaches participants that
these repetitive acts are indicators for acts of sexism. These four points are design to change the
behavior of participants to be more aware of sexism as well as having a fair attitude towards other
genders. .
Education can be very effective to change the behavior and attitude of people regarding a subject. A
good education can have the ability to change the mindset of children. To test the effectiveness of
WAGES, Cundiffs et al. gathered participants and found that WAGES was more effective than normal
information teaching. WAGES’S suggested education routine affects our attitude and behavior on sexism
through the means of increasing engagement and self-efficacy.
By increasing engagement and
experiencing these biases first handed, participants were more aware of “harm of seemingly minor
everyday instance of sexism.” (Cundiffs et al. 716) This is an important learning factor for our future
generation as it helps them recognize everyday instance of sexism, something that easily slips past many
people today. Moreover, the increase of self-efficacy made it more likely for participants to apply this
activity to other context. (Bransford et al.) Measured through Behavioral Intention Scale, the activity
also caused participant to have a more significant intention to addressing gender inequalities. This is
major as it proves that through education, we can successfully and effectively change human attitude
and behavior towards sexism and shift it in a much more positive way.
All school learning material must be well-planned. A big factor in opinioned teaching is the
existence of reactance, or the motivational state to refuse and reject information regardless of its
content. (Brehm & Brehm) Therefore, not only should we teach about the danger of sexism to children,
but also in a way that is well-planned and prove to work well. WAGES, for one, had significant decreased
reactance compared to just plain information (Cundiffs et al.), showing care towards the problem
instead of rejecting its existence or urgency. In order to not have a reverse effect on children, the
teaching method must be well-planned and proven to be effective.
With the combination
of engagement, self-efficacy,
and decreased reactance,
we could educate future
generation of the danger
and negativities of sexism.
By
implementing
well-
How perceived harm of everyday sexism from lesson is a combined result of all reactance,
engagement, and self-efficacy
Source: Cundiff et al. Using Experiential Learning to Increase the Recognition of Everyday
planned lessons regarding Sexism as Harmful: The WAGES Intervention
sexism, we can change the mindset of our upcoming generations. From a young age, our society’s
population would be informed of this prevalent problem, and would grow up to make society better and
fairer for anyone. As slowly population in the society builds up this mindset, it can be certain that the
rest of society will now have to follow this gender equality norm instead of the current stereotyped one.
With this method of education, women and men alike will be safer from the harassment and danger of
sexism as the number of offender has decreased and those who will stop and interfere during these
situations has increased. A correct implementation of this lesson must be put in place in the school
system in order to have a more positive, risk-free, and safe from sexism society.
Adjusting the education system has many difficulties, but it is worth it in the long run. We must be
able to convince schools to implement this somewhat controversial topic. We have to be able to
persuade school administrators and parents alike through facts that our proposed education
implementation will make a huge positive impact on society and urge them to be part of the change.
Past implementations on sensitivity training have
occurred for teachers, but even that has raised
problems and controversial argument. In 2014,
Lincoln Middle School had a whole debate
regarding the inclusion of gender inclusiveness
training, which sparked the media’s attention.
Many strongly supported and others opposed this
type of training, including the superintendent, Lincoln mother Rachel Terry sparked national media
teachers, and parents, causing the necessity of
board meetings, school meetings, and even press
firestorm regarding implementation of gender training at
Lincoln Middle School.
Source: Winter LPS Gender Sensitivity Training Archives
conferences. (Winter) If implementing a sensitivity training just to teachers itself sparked so many
problems, clearly implementing similar education to students will cause an even bigger debate amongst
parents and administrators. However, Lincoln Middle School was successful with the change, and we can
do this same by persisting and persuading school officials and parents that sexism is a real and prevalent
issue, urging them to cooperate with us.
The implementation plan would have to start out small and go by individual school districts. A
starting point would be going directly to a school district and persuade them the idea. It is vital that our
targets are school districts since the federal government are forbid to intervene with school curriculum
by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965. Although the state government does come in a
huge part in what schools are required to teach, it is the school districts that design their curricula.
(Golod) Therefore, we should go about school districts and as school districts joins in to be the change,
the program will eventually expand on an enormous level.
This education implementation also focuses on the long-term effect. Changes are not going to
be seen immediately in society, but will require a long time to take effect. Even so, the changes will be
subtle, but each small step will be an important part. We have to have schools understand that it will be
a long term commitment and that changes are taking effect, even if not obviously seen. If everyone
slowly shifts their position and attitude, society will eventually ended up on the better side. Since all part
of society is made up by human efforts, a shift in society will also resolve all the problems related to
sexism through different medium. It would all be worth it in the long run. To improve society for the
future, we have to act now to push through the obstacles and begin to bring in an important education.
Education is the best method to rid of sexism as a whole. As mentioned, the very problem is not
sexual misrepresentation in society, nor is it the constant sexual harassment that female receives, nor a
lack of female game developers. Attempting to fix such a narrow point will at most extend to fixing
sexism in the video game industry, and nothing more. The biggest problem of sexism is its sole existence
in society. With the implementation of education from a young mindset, society will be slowly rid of
gender stereotypes, video games and game developers will then have equality in gender, and that will
also lead more female developers in the video game industry. Not only will our focus on sexism in video
games be resolved, but also sexism in wherever else sexism can be prevalent at or through future
unforeseen medium. To fix sexism in video games, we can fix sexism in society as well by educating our
next generation.
There is no way for sexism to suddenly disappear overnight. Many adults nowadays had already had
their mind set in place, and it is difficult to alter their beliefs. However, society’s upcoming generation is
still in the process of learning and deciding on what is right and wrong, logical or illogical. We can
attempt to teach them the right thing with the right type of education. After many years of this
education, when most of society mindset is aware of sexism and with an attitude to take action, society
will shift for the better. It will be rid of sexism intent and unfair treatment. Sexist appearance will be
shot down by the rest of the positive society. We need education to make this a reality. Like Nelson
Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the World.” –Nelson Mandela
Source: Shaunfrankson
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